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Oliver pitches Lunenburg past Gardner

By Greg Phipps, Correspondent

Updated:
04/27/2013 06:52:32 AM EDT

SENTINEL & ENTERPRISE / JOHN LOVE
Lunenburg's Brittany Cullinane, far right, is greeted at home plate by her teammates after hitting a home run during Friday's game against Gardner at Marshall Park in Lunenburg.

Oliver was not overpowering (four strikeouts), but her control was excellent. She did not walk a batter, allowed just four hits, and successfully located her pitches and changed speeds to keep the opponents off balance. Twelve of Gardner's outs were of the groundball variety.

The lone major blemish for Oliver was a rocket home run to straightaway center field off the bat of Gardner's Shayna Yacyshyn in the top of the second inning. Other than that, the Wildcats had difficulty getting good wood on her pitches.

SENTINEL & ENTERPRISE / JOHN LOVE
Gardner's Shayna Yacyshyn is all smiles as she trots down the third-base line after hitting a home run. Waiting to congratulate her is her teammate Kayla Fontaine.

"Grace has become a much better pitcher this year. Last season, she was a power pitcher who just threw hard," said Lunenburg head coach Steve Cullinane, whose squad improved to 2-1 in league play and 6-1 overall. "Now she moves the ball around with different speeds."

Cullinane was also pleased to see a strong showing in all areas of the game.

"This was probably our best all-around game of the season, where we hit and fielded well," he pointed out. "I thought we played pretty good defense today. We're also swinging the bats well right now. I think we're really beginning to come around as a team."

Consecutive triples to lead off the first by Sydney Fuhs and Ambria Billotta, followed by a Brittany Cullinane walk and a one-out single by Jen Moriarty, combined to give the Knights a quick 3-0 lead.

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The advantage would escalate to 6-1 in the third frame when Brittany Cullinane socked a solo blast over the right-field fence, and Mackenzie Sowerbutts and Taylor Olson singled in Moriarty and Erin Stern, who had both reached on errors.

The Wildcats (1-7, 1-2) had their best chance for a big inning in the fourth.

Erin Mack's infield single and a bunt single by Jordan Bernard put two runners on with no outs. But a double-play groundout that scored one run fizzled that rally. Gardner got two more runners on with two outs when Yacyshyn was hit by a pitch and Kayla Fontaine reached on an error. But Oliver was able to escape further damage by fanning the next batter.

"Unfortunately, we're not getting hits with runners in scoring position. We got our bats on the ball, which is good, but we're lacking those timely hits to score runs," said Gardner head coach Jessica Currier, who credited left-handed pitcher Amy Clayman (6 IP, 7 H, 4 K, 3 BB) for a strong effort. Four defensive errors led to three Lunenburg runs.

"That's what's been killing us this year," said Currier. "You commit errors, the other team is going to take advantage and score on you."

The Knights would tack on two more tallies in the sixth without the benefit of a hit. Allie LeBlanc walked with one out and an error helped Fuhs reach. They both eventually came around to score, with Fuhs crossing home on a double-steal attempt.

Moriarty finished with two hits for Lunenburg, while Mack collected two hits for Gardner.

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